Lost
by ckaira77
Summary: Shadow knows they still exist. They're out there somewhere. He just doesn't know where. The odd thing is that nobody can remember them ever existing in the first place... He searches anyway for the lost race. The Drayans.
1. Chapter 1

Lost

Prologue

"Shadow, I can tell you for sure that there is no such thing as Drayans! You must be losing your mind!"

The black hedgehog was agitated. He tightened his grip on the man's collar. He didn't know why he was so concerned. There was something inside of him that screamed for him to continue his search. Ever since he woke up that one morning, he was certain that there was a race called the Drayans. The problem was, he was the only one who knew… Nobody else could remember what they were or looked like. Each time they'd say the same thing, "There's no such thing."

"Are you sure?! How come I can remember?! Their wings shining like starlight, their hair always longer than average, the eyes that can show you every one of their emotions at once!" Shadow yelled. He threw the man back onto the ground when he shook his head. There were Drayans out there. There had to be. They couldn't just be… lost.


	2. Actual chapter 1

Chapter 1

My name is Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog. I've been searching for them. Don't tell me you don't know. You know perfectly well what I'm looking for. Unless if you've been inflicted with this horrible curse as well, I'll assume you know. I'm searching for a lost race. The Drayans. There's no such thing? You're wrong. You're all wrong.

Shadow sat up in his bed. Just a day before there was a Drayan. Long black hair, emerald green eyes, emerald green wings… They are real. They can't just disappear. He thought to himself for a second. What else did he remember? As he thought, he realized something. He couldn't remember anything other than what he already thought…

"What happened to me… Why can't I remember…? Is there really a world where the Drayans exist?" he questioned himself.

 _No point in sitting in bed trying to find answers all day. I should go ask someone about it. If I can't remember, surely someone else will remember._

Shadow hopped to his feet and ignored every weak joint he felt that screamed for him to jump back into the bed and go back to sleep. He then wondered why he was feeling so sore. It didn't matter. He ran through the door and looked around. At least, he could still remember what his house looked like. Did he have any friends?

 _Faker._

The name just came to him. Who was Faker? A blue hedgehog zipped through his mind and then disappeared like lightning. A blue blur. Shadow knew he had to speak with this blue blur named Faker. Why was he named Faker? Was that even his real name?

 _Shadow, you have to quit asking so many questions._

Reluctantly, he stepped outside. There was no sunlight. It was still night with the stars twinkling above them. He began to hover-skate his way to Faker's house. He had no idea why he was skating on hover shoes or how he knew how to. Probably just out of habit. What was more alarming was the fact that he knew where to go. He banged on the door to Faker's house.

 _BANG! BANG! BANG!_

He heard someone yawn from the other side of the door. A blue hedgehog opened the door. He looked like he just woke up. His eyes were baggy and he had green eyes. He was about the same height he was and wore red, buckled shoes. He yawned again.

"Shadow, why are you bugging me in the middle of the night…?" asked Faker.

Shadow cleared his throat. "I can't remember anything… It seems like you know me best so I came here. You were the only person I could remember," Shadow explained.

Faker sighed. He opened the door wider and retreated towards the living room. A yellow fox was asleep on the couch and opened one eye slowly. His eyes were a bright blue and he had two tails. He looked just as familiar as Faker.

"Tails, we have an early bird who wants to know who in the world he is… Help me out here…," Faker groaned. Faker then flopped onto the other couch. The fox sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Well… Okay… Shadow, couldn't this have waited until morning?" asked the fox.

Shadow shook his head. "I made it my first priority to talk to somebody who's actually smart about this."

The fox, who Shadow remembered to be named Tails, looked over at Faker who was already back to sleep. He sighed again. "Fine… What do you remember?"

"I remember how to do things, I remember who I am, and I remember a certain race of people…," Shadow explained.

"What people?" asked Tails.

"The Drayans."

Tails looked at Shadow sideways. The Drayans? "I've… actually never heard of them…," Tails explained. He looked up the Drayans on his laptop. "Uh… You mean the humanoid aliens that originate from the Delta Quadrant planet Drayan that was discovered by the USS Voyager in 2372?" asked Tails looking at one site.

"Explain humanoid. Do they have wings?" asked Shadow.

"Uh… No," Tails explained.

"Then that's not them! Nobody remembers them other than me?! There was a Drayan just yesterday! She has long black hair, green eyes, green wings, etc! She can't have disappeared!" Shadow hissed.

"I'm sorry Shadow, but I think it must have been just a dream…," Tails told him.

"What's today's date?" asked Shadow.

"April 18, 2018…," Tails replied.

"2018?! It's 2016! Two years… What happened?!" demanded Shadow.

"What? It's been two years since 2016! You must be really tired… Maybe you should take a nap or something… Go to bed! It's three in the morning!" Tails snapped.

Shadow paused. No wonder he couldn't remember anything. He probably wasn't conscious through the two years. Maybe he was asleep for two years. That would explain his weak joints and muscles. Maybe his memories faded away while he was asleep…

As soon as he had these thoughts, a face flashed into his head. Dr. Eggman. The good doctor probably would have some advice for him… Another question popped into his mind.

"Tails, when was the last time you saw me?"

Tails thought for a minute. He got an odd look on his face. There was something wrong. He couldn't remember the last time he saw Shadow. "I don't remember…"

"At least, tell me where I've been! What happened!?" demanded Shadow.

"I don't know! I don't know what happened to you or what happened to us! I don't know!" Tails finally yelled.

Something was wrong. Dangerously wrong. Shadow stumbled out of the house and ran towards Eggman's base. However, when he got there, it was abandoned. Shadow found a sign on the ground that read: _Sonic the Hedgehog finally defeats Dr. Eggman once and for all! The old doctor has been banished from this planet and now lives in space where he'll no longer harm us. -July 25, 2017_

Shadow set down the sign. The one person who could help him was gone. All hope seemed lost. However, he then remembered his house. If he lived there, surely there must've been something there that could help him. He began to make his way there.

"What in the-?!" Shadow yelled.

He was looking at the spot his house once was. It was gone! There was a sign on the ground there too. It read: _Project Shadow reboot failed. The explosion occurred here where the Ultimate Creature 2.0 project failed. After attempting to recreate the Shadow that was lost, Dr. Eggman tried to recreate Shadow only to fail. Was banished to space as a result. Warning: High radiation levels have been detected on the property where the explosion occurred._

Shadow stared at the sign. He shouldn't even exist. Maybe it was his existence that was making everyone forget… If he didn't exist, then who was he? Was he Shadow 2.0? Why did Tails and Faker recognize him as if he had talked to them only the other day? What was happening?

He knew that there was no choice for him now. He lost everything. There was only one race that could solve this. It explained why he wanted to find them. Perhaps to set things right. He just had to find them. The lost race of the Drayans…


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The world seemed strange now. His house was gone, Eggman was gone, but nobody knew. Maybe it was his existence. The fact that he was a hedgehog from 2016 and everything else was from 2018. People respond to him like they would from 2016, but the events are the events are events that happened after 2016. It was weird and hard to understand. Was it all just a test. It had to be. He had to be in one of Tails' crazy science experiments!

"What am I even doing…? If I'm going to solve anything, I've got to find them… Who's good at finding things…?" Shadow asked himself.

There was Knuckles who was a treasure hunter. He could find them. However, they were on bad terms. Knuckles never really liked him. They fight all the time. Nope. Knuckles wouldn't help. Tails could build something to help him find the Drayans. However, he doesn't even think they exist. There was one other person. Probably the only person who could help him. Rouge. He knew where to go instantly. He found himself bolting with a strange confidence that came from nowhere. A hope.

Rouge sat down on a stool. She looked at the bartender in the eye. He looked away awkwardly. Rouge went there every day ever since Shadow blew up. The funny thing was that she didn't remember how it happened. Eggman recreated him, but that was the 2.0 version. She was talking about the original. Her friend was probably gone forever.

"Listen, Rouge, if you're gonna buy something, you can't tell me what you want by looking at me. I'm sorry about your friend, but I've got a business to run," the guy across the counter told her. She only sighed.

The door swung open. Time ripples came closing in on them everywhere. Shadow walked into the place. Time rewrote itself instantly. Rouge found herself forgetting many of the events that had happened. Her good mood returned in seconds. She closed her eyes and focussed on the memory that was being ranked from her head. She grasped her head and resisted as much as she could. Someone grabbed her hand and brought her out of it. It was Shadow.

"Sh-Shadow?" asked Rouge in astonishment.

"Leave the room. Follow me," was all he could say. He could see time rewriting itself. He begins to pull her away from the room. She doesn't hesitate. They manage to make it out of the door with all memories intact. Well, most of them.

"Shadow, how are you back?! I thought-" Rouge started. Shadow shushed her quickly and looked around.

"Listen, I have no idea what's going on and I don't exist! That's why I'm trying to find a lost race called the Drayans who can fix everything and give me some answers!" Shadow explained hastily.

"The Drayans? Hm… Sounds faintly familiar…," Rouge said.

Relief flooded every one of his senses. Even if the word sounded familiar in any way, that was enough to give him some reassurance. "In what way? Have you seen one?!"

"Uh… It's a little fuzzy in my brain… I can't remember… All I can remember is that you disappeared, Eggman got banished, you're back, nobody can remember anything… It's a mess. I'm afraid that's the most I can do…," Rouge answered.

"Nope! You're going to help me fix this mess!" Shadow corrected.

"What? How?"

"You're going to help me find the Drayans," Shadow answered.

Rouge was dumbfounded for a moment. She didn't say anything. Shadow waited patiently for her answer. Rouge thought about almost everything that could happen in almost twenty seconds. Her mind raced without a stop at Sonic speed. She finally just smacked herself in the face to knock some sense into herself and nodded. Shadow wasn't sure if the face-slap was really necessary, but he didn't question it.

"Alright, where do we start? What do you remember about them?" asked Rouge.

"I remember they had wings, long hair, bright eyes that can reveal emotions, and they have some sort of power. Magic, I think," Shadow explained.

"Sounds like an alien race to me. Do they live in outer space?" asked Rouge.

"No. They're an advanced race. Why would they drift through outer space? They live on a planet thousands of light years away."

"We'll never make it by our modern rockets. We'll have to use your chaos control," rouge explained.

"That's the problem. I don't know where the planet is. However, I have thought up a different solution," Shadow explained.

"What's that?"

"Time-travel. You see, if we go back in time to a point where we saw a Drayan, we might be able to warn them about the future so they can fix it for us," Shadow answered.

"What's the catch?" asked Rouge crossing her arms.

"We need to hedgehogs and two emeralds. I'm only one hedgehog with no chaos emeralds."

Rouge nods and thinks to herself. "Sonic stole a chaos emerald from me recently. He should have, at least, one."

The two of them nod and make their way, at a really fast pace, to Sonic's house. Once they got there, Shadow huffed with annoyance and wanted to scream. Sonic's house was reduced to rubble and lie on the ground. It didn't even look like a house anymore. Shadow didn't know how their house could've been destroyed so easily. He looked over his shoulder and a large explosion bursts overhead. Rouge and Shadow yell in alarm. A white hedgehog swoops to the sky and contains the explosion. He drifts back to the ground when the flames from the explosion eventually flicker out. Shadow would recognize this hedgehog anywhere. Silver.

"What's Silver doing here?!" asked Rouge.

"That would be my question to you! What are you two doing two hundred years after your time?!" Silver demanded.

"Two hundred years? Silver, you'd better get down here and explain to us what's going on!" Shadow yelled.

Silver glided towards them with a curious expression. He then looked around and sighed. "Okay, time is getting a little unstable. Things from your time are getting sucked into my time! I think it's you who should be explaining! Wait a sec, what time are you from?" asked Silver looking at Shadow.

"2016."

"What? How's that possible? You're dead!" Silver exclaims.

"Oh, whatever! Everything's going crazy! My existence is probably distorting time and causing for random things to be dragged into random times. There's only one race who'll save us! The Drayans."

"The Drayans? Sorry. Don't recall," Silver said shaking his head.

"Well, we need to go back in time to a point where we were talking to a Drayan so that they can fix this! I'll explain the rest of the details later! Do you have the chaos emeralds?!" demanded Shadow.

"Um… I don't have them. However, we might be able to make a substitution," Silver explained.

"A substitution?" asked Rouge.

"You remember Blaze, don't you? She may have something that'll work," Silver told them.

Shadow and Rouge looked at each other. Anything would work if it could get the timeline fixed.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"This is it?" asked Shadow looking down at seven stones. They were shaped sort of like rectangular prisms. Shadow had never seen these because he wasn't in Sonic rush or Sonic Rush Adventure. They were the Sol Emeralds. Because he didn't know what they were, he wasn't sure what to think. Would these gems really help them?

"Alright Shadow, I'd like for you to get acquainted with the Sol Emeralds. They are the chaos emeralds of Blaze's dimension. If we use these, we should be able to go back in time to the point where you saw these… Um… Drayans," Silver explained.

"What do I say? Sol Control?" asked Shadow picking one up.

"Ha ha. Very funny. Only Blaze can use them. Rouge, don't even think about stealing these. If you do, you'll be forever stuck with us," Silver told the bat when he caught her trying to snatch one.

"What?! They're just as pretty as my chaos emeralds!"

"Your chaos emeralds?" Shadow asked giving her a swift glare. She sighed and crossed her arms.

Blaze grabbed onto the Sol Emeralds They made her fur change color to red and she could now fly. As she focussed the energy, holes in the universe began to rip apart. Everything began to fall through the universe and everything began to collapse. Time in the past was being messed up. If the past was falling apart then the future would never exist. Silver looked at Blaze with frantic eyes.

"I know what you're going to say! Just give me a second!" Blaze snapped.

"We don't have a second!" Silver yelled as the ground gave out from under them.

A portal opened right above Blaze's head. Silver grabbed onto everybody and threw them into the portal. He began to fly after them.

Six inches away.

"Huh?! What?!" demanded Silver as something latched onto his leg. It pulled him away. Silver fought trying not to waste time. There were only seconds before everything disappeared.

"I won't let go…," the mysterious thing growled to the flying hedgehog.

Debris flew past them and everything was being reduced to dust. The life form that was on Silver's leg continued to drag him down. The portal grew smaller.

"If you're going to kill me, at least tell me what you are!" Silver said to it.

"The Drayans called us time bugs. We are who they call when time goes wrong. We eat away at time for a living. This time will be replaced by another time because of that black hedgehog…," the time bug explained.

"No! Don't stop there! Tell me more!" Silver pleaded.

"I'm sorry. In a few seconds, you won't exist. So, I don't think it really matters," the time bug answered.

With that, everything was gone. Silver was erased with the time and everything. **Silver no longer exists.**

In the past, nobody could remember Silver. Well, the only one who could remember was Shadow. He was the only one who stood outside of time. None of them knew what happened in Silver's time.

"Okay! We're in the past! Where do you think we'll find these Drayans?" asked Blaze with her hands on her hips.

"Wait. Where's Silver?" asked Shadow looking around.

"You mean we'll find Drayans in a mine? A silver mine?" asked Rouge.

"NO! Silver! The hedgehog that was with us a few seconds ago!" Shadow retorted. He suddenly realized what happened. Silver couldn't get to the portal and was erased in the time he was in. Therefore, nobody could remember him. Almost like how nobody could remember the Drayans…

Rouge and Blaze looked to each other. Blaze stepped closer. "We don't have all day. Just tell us where these Drayans are."

"They're not going to be here. They're not going to be anywhere… They were erased in their time… Just like Silver. That's why you can't remember Silver or them. For some reason, I stand outside of time. Sort of like how I'm not supposed to exist. I think… I was with the Drayan at the same time when that time was being erased… I must've been able to escape it somehow."

Rouge was confused. She thought back to when Shadow first reappearance. Time was being erased within the room. Everywhere he went, time got messed up there. The Shadow in her world died and failed to be recreated. The Shadow from another time that was the same time as that was still alive only fled from the time that was being erased and somehow ended up at that time. She was still a little fuzzy on everything else, but the logic made sense.

"I still don't see how figuring out what happened to you will help us figure out what is happening now. The date is 7/14/09. Was it all for nothing?" asked Blaze.

Shadow looked around. The time was familiar. He saw a blue blur running around off in the distance. Shadow thought that maybe he could get help from Sonic. It was unlikely that he would know anything useful, though.

"I think I know what you were talking about earlier Shadow. However, If the Drayan you were with in that time got erased, where would that Drayan have gone? The same place as Silver probably. Suppose there was a way to somehow pull the Drayan and Silver out of the void?" asked Rouge.

Shadow thought. Would that even be possible? Matter couldn't be created or destroyed which meant that the Drayan couldn't have been just gone. Neither could Silver. They were probably just drifting around in the void with a lot of other things that were sucked up that he couldn't remember.

"That's actually not a bad idea. We could try. However, we don't know how many people or things would be in that void," Shadow told them.

"What do you mean? The messed up time stuff only just started," Blaze said.

"How do you know? How do you know if this has or hasn't been going on for decades, centuries, millenniums?! For all we know, it could have been going on since the beginning of time. Time being erased to be replaced with a different time. Nobody would know about the change. Until now," Shadow explained.

The more Blaze and Rouge thought about it, the more that they understood how hard it would be. The only species that could save them was lost in a void with who knows what.

"We still have to try. If we don't, Shadow causes for lots of other times to vanish. Lots more people will be sucked into the void! We need to rescue this Drayan!" Blaze announced.

Rouge's ears pricked. She had an idea! "Shadow, suppose we were to ask Tails to build us a tracking device so we can find this Drayan?"

"That's what I need! Come on! We have to get that tracker before I ruin this time too. I'm a virus spreading into times where I'm not supposed to be. That's why all the times I'm in are being erased."

"Great. I'm hanging out with a time virus," Blaze stated. She seemed a lot different from her normal self. Probably because Silver never taught her how to be nice.

 _Future or no future… I'm going to bring that Drayan back. It's the only way…_

 _ **But what if it's not the only way… What if there ISN'T a way?!**_

"Shadow, are you alright?" asked Rouge.

Shadow thought. Voices. They sounded too familiar. He knew that he wasn't fine anymore. "No. I'm not."


End file.
